The Box of Abilities: Learning a New Skill

Learning a new skill will develop and increase you as an individual. It is one of the things people would recommend and I would recommend. I decided to learn the guitar and the ukulele.

My father had a guitar that he isn't using anymore so I took liberty of it and started playing. I remember the first time playing the instrument, my fingers were in pain. I found a channel called for3v3rfaithful, I found this channel to be very helpful. I started learning the basic cords, C G D. They were a challenge at first but I soon got it. I then started learning Driver's License by Olivia Rodrigo. It was terrible, I was slow on changing the chords and it sounded horrible.

I trained everyday. When I had free time, I'd always tried to fit it in. It took me 2-3 weeks to finally play the full song and changing the cords on time. Hard worked paid off. I then started learning other songs and I was able to play the other songs more easily. I then started playing the ukulele at the same time. The cords were different and it was a bit confusing at first but soon got used to it. I did try to sing along while playing the guitar... I'm still working on it.

Why am I telling this story? Well, because I learnt a new skill, a skill that improved me an individual. I realised there is so much more to learn so don't stick with the things you are capable of but increase the box of abilities. The more you are open the more your box gets bigger and the more you'll become valuable towards opportunities that you come across. You will have a lot to talk about yourself and your journey. People will want to know more about you and your journey, make it exciting and fun. Learn to live, make mistakes and improve. There will always be a route that you would make have a mistake, no route in " Perfect".

The reason I am able to play the guitar now is Discipline and Grit. Every successful person would say. If you don't have the discipline to work, it's just another unfinished race you never wanted. I had a list of things I do in a day. Here is my schedule when I was learning how to play the guitar:

Daily

6.05 A.M Stretch
7.00 A.M have a wash
7.00-8.00 A.M have breakfast
10.00-12.00 P.M piano and guitar practice
12.00- 12.30 P.M lunch
12.30-13.00 P.M exercise
13.15-14.00 P.M James Bond book
14.00-16.00 P.M piano and guitar
16.05-16.45 P.M dance practice
17.00-17.15 P.M investment research
Run
————— END OF THE DAY—————

From the book " The Outstanding Actor Seven keys to success" Written by Ken Rea

The Grit.
You must have the grit for something. I had the grit to want to play the guitar and I did it. Ken Rea stated in his book :

Without the grit your ambitions will come to nothing.

Why do you want to play the guitar? I want to play the guitar to improve my skills for my acting career. See, once you have the grit to do something, you can accomplish it.

So think, What you want to be good at? Why do you want to be good at it? That is how you'll have the grit to work for it. It has to be meaningful to you.

Reference:

Rea, K. (2021). OUTSTANDING ACTOR : seven keys to success..

‌The Outstanding Actor: Seven Keys to Success (Performance Books) : Ken Rea: Amazon.co.uk: Books

Kleon, A. (2012). Steal like an artist : 10 things nobody told you about being creative. New York: Workman Publishing Company. Available at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Steal-Like-Artist-Austin-Kleon/dp/0761169253/ref=sr_1_1?crid=ED810FIB49Z5&keywords=steal+like+an+artist+austin+kleon&qid=1691504273&sprefix=steal+like+%2Caps%2C98&sr=8-1.